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Henri Ducard (ME-1)
"Once I had a wife and son. They were taken from me, because choices I made. I know the rage that drives you. That impossible anger strangling the grief, until the good memories: like marrying the love of your life, and the birth of your child becomes... poison in your veins. And one day, you catch yourself wishing the people you loved had never existed, so you would be spared your pain.. Your anger gives you great power, but if you let it, it will destroy you, as it has me." The Manhunter Henri Odilon Anthelme Ducard is a legendary mercenary bounty hunter; he has assassinated some of the most controversial political figures in modern history, and he has hunted down countless high value targets. Ancient History Years ago, Henri contemplated retiring to a life of peace with his wife and wealth, but the game of international wetworks and assassination did not want to say goodbye to the World's Deadliest Assassin; One of his disgruntled former employers sent hitmen out to kill him; they found his secluded villa, and assaulted it, but Henri wasn't there; he had left to buy groceries for the romantic dinner he had planned for his wife, so the hitmen only found his defenseless wife. When Henri returned, he found his ruined home, and murdered wife, and vowed vengeance. It would take him years, but he would have vengeance. Second Son "I was like you once; I wanted to save the world, but then life knocked me down until I understood the world can't be saved unless it wants to be." Personality "What is better - to be born good, or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?" In many ways, Henri is the stereotypical overly philosophical Frenchmen. He is almost impossibly intelligent, and almost enitrely self-taught. He loved to read the works of ancient philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, and Confucius, as well as modern (and native) philosophers such as Baron D'Holbach and Denis Diderot. He especially loved Diderot's obseravtion that humankind is born with both good and bad intuitions, and that it took labor to be truly good. He was an idealistic young man, and spent many years of his life fighting in many conflicts across the globe in effort to "make the world a better place." Over time, as he got better at the job, he realized the world was not receptive to change, nor did it deserve it, so he started looking out for himself. Hope was at least somewhat restored when he met the woman he would later marry, and she bore him a son. He loved them dearly, and left the world of war for them. Their murder nearly destroyed all of his humanity, but raising Sandra Ducard forced him to find something inside that held on to humanity. It was revived with gusto when he met a man he would later note as a younger version of himself: William Lawton. The young man's journey for justice brought many conflicting emotions for Henri: on one hand his cynicism urged him to save the boy the pain that life would bring, but a deeper and more powerful emotion that lurked beneath told him that this man could make the difference he could not. Trivia *The name Henri Ducard comes from one of Batman's mentors: the manhunter Henri Ducard. *Henri is the French form of Henry, which is from the Germanic name Heimirich which meant "home ruler", composed of the elements heim "home" and ric "power, ruler". *Odilon is the French masculine form of form of Odila, which is derived from the Germanic element odal meaning "fatherland" or aud meaning "wealth, fortune." *Anthelme is the French form of Anthelm, from the Germanic element and "wrath, zeal" combined with helm "helmet, protection". *When conceiving his personality I thought "(Me + 30 years) x (Denis Diderot + Deathstroke)" *He taught Will everything he knew. *In his youth, he kept newspapers of his exploits across the globe that helped people in his office. He also kept the newpaper clipping related to his failures in a smaller room for ruminative reflection, most notably this room contained his wife and son's obituaries. **Years later, he would resume the practice, when Knight Owl debuted to the world. One by one he removed one of the clippings of his failures, substituting it with one of Knight Owl's successes. ***By the time he died there was one failure left: the obituary of his wife and son, which Will later removed, substituting with a nespaper clipping on Knight Owl's victory over al-Mualim. *Although he rarely expressed it, he loved Sandra like a daughter, as much as he loved his own son. **He never once believed she was destined to be the mass murderer her father was. Category:Created by RoninTheMasterless Category:ME-1 Category:Males Category:Military Personnel Category:Mercenaries Category:Assassins Category:Knight Owl's Mentors (ME-1) Category:Heterosexual Characters Category:Widower Characters Category:Naturally Enhanced Biology Category:Gun Wielders Category:Knife Wielders Category:Sword Wielders Category:Martial Artists Category:Expert Combatant Category:Weapons Experts Category:Europeans Category:Deceased Category:Intuitive Aptitude Category:Interrogation Category:Intimidation Category:Tracking Category:Optimal Finesse Category:Weapon Improvisation Category:Projectile Weapon Users Category:Driving Category:Piloting Category:Öksökö (ME-1) Category:Characters Who Know Knight Owl's Secret Identity (ME-1)